Results 241-260 of 1,683 for speaker:Derek McDowell

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: I do not intend to dwell on this matter. The Minister has pointed out that the Labour Party has put down a number of amendments which seek to negative various sections of the Bill. My party does not intend to pursue the earlier amendments at any length, as they were flogged to death on Committee Stage. My party intends to move rapidly through the earlier amendments, with the exception of...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: Speaking specifically to the amendments, as other Senators have pointed out, they were actually included in the commissioner's report and in his recommendations to the Department of Finance some months ago. A specific point arose on Committee Stage last week when the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Michael Ahern, conceded that there could be...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 4: In page 5, to delete lines 10 to 28. There is a definition section in the Bill where the only part of concern to us is the definition of the words "factual information". We had a lengthy debate last week as to what was comprehended by the definition and specifically discussed the tax strategy group papers referred to by the Minister. In my experience of dealing with...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: I take this as being the assurance for which I was looking. On the face of it, the papers could easily be covered by the amendments to section 19 and others that deal with the deliberative process. For example, some Departments insist the Estimates process never ends. They forever go to the Department of Finance and will not accept an issue has been finally dealt with, or the deliberative...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: I am pleased with what the Minister has said and I do not intend to press the amendment. However, it would be possible to define the TSG papers as records of Government under the terms of the Act if someone were minded to do so.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: I second the amendment. As Senator Henry pointed out, the Information Commissioner made this recommendation. It is specifically intended to take any reference to 28(5)(b) out of the Act in so far as there is no reference to public interest therein. It is intended primarily as a cleaning up exercise.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 7: In page 5, between lines 28 and 29, to insert the following: 3. – Section 3 of the Principal Act is amended in subsection (1) by the addition after paragraph (a) of the following paragraph: (aa) by regulations amend the Third Schedule so as to insert therein reference to any additional provision of enactment as appears to the Minister to be appropriate having regard...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: This amendment, also proposed by the Information Commissioner, relates to section 32 of the original Act and allows the Minister to make regulations which would be added to the Third Schedule to the Act, which sets out those enactments of the Oireachtas which are automatically overridden by the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 1997. This would allow the Minister, by regulation, to...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: Anybody listening to these deliberations would be at pains to understand what we are talking about. When the Act was being drawn up in 1997, there were concerns about various detailed provisions in other Acts which limit the availability of information. The purpose in drawing up a Third Schedule to the Act at that stage was to draw up a list of enactments which effectively were automatically...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 8: In page 5, to delete lines 29 and 30.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: This seeks to delete section 3 of the Bill, which relates to the head of a particular Department delegating to an official lower down in the hierarchy of the Civil Service the power to make a decision. My understanding is that, in most Departments, this is delegated to principal officers in charge of particular sections.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 10: In page 5, to delete lines 31 to 33 and in page 6, to delete lines 1 to 10. This, the first substantive amendment we have reached, proposes to delete section 4 of the Bill which redefines what constitutes personal information. The Minister will doubtless be aware that this is causing considerable concern. I am particularly concerned about the comments of the leader of...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: I thank the Minister for his detailed response. We are replacing a situation where discretion must be used with a situation which, I accept, has greater clarity. Whether or not it is the Minister's intention, however, the effect of this will be to restrict the availability of some records. Mr. O'Gorman simply pointed to the types of records which he felt could—

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: The definition, as it currently stands, includes personal information and information relating to personal information. That has to be a broader category of information than records that simply contain personal information. It leaves an extra bit of discretion to decision makers.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: This is not unusual in the Bill. It is full of subjective tests. The Bill requires decision makers to make decisions all the time as to what is in the public interest, for example. That is not clearly defined, so there is discretion. Decision makers must exercise discretion all the time. The area of personal information is one in which decision makers should be encouraged to exercise their...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 12: In page 6, to delete lines 20 to 47. We had a lengthy discussion on this provision on Committee Stage. This is the "neither confirm nor deny" provision which is extended to several sections of the Bill. I move the amendment simply to allow the Minister an opportunity to give us the benefit of his speaking note. In conversation with his officials they explained to me...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: The section I propose to delete allows someone to decide neither to confirm nor deny that there is a particular record. That provision is already contained in the existing Act but this section would extend the areas where the refusal to confirm or deny that there is a record would apply, to the three new areas of commercially sensitive information, personal information and matters dealing...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: My concern – I appreciate the Minister's forbearance in hearing it – is that this allows decision makers a huge breadth of discretion in neither confirming nor denying that there is a particular record. While I know the section is intended to cover particular cases, I would like the Minister to outline what he considers those cases to be, rather than allow a section to stand without...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 13:

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Derek McDowell: On the substantive issue I am pleased to hear the Minister confirm that charges will be minimal or nominal.